Moore Enterprises International

Rates and Pricing

Rate & Pricing Philosophy

I have tried over the years to develop the perfect Rate and Pricing model but I have decided that there is no such animal. No two jobs are alike, they are all different. Fixed prices for doing specific tasks reward those with situations that have problems and penalize those with situations that go perfectly. Variable pricing or by-the-hour rates are great if everything turns out perfectly but are scary in that you do not know what the cost will be until the job is done. There is always that nagging question of "Should it really have taken that long or did this guy just push the time out to make more money?" Completely valid question, I've had it myself. It all comes down to a matter of trust.

That said, I will do your job to the best of my ability and charge you fairly. My standard rates for onsite jobs are $75/hour for commercial/business support and $50/hour for SOHO and home users. I do NOT charge for time spent in preparation for your job or travel time if you are within a reasonable area. Please take a look at exceptions to pricing and rates below.

Normally, email inquiries or follow-up phone calls are FREE unless they are lengthy and complex or excessive. You'll be notified before the clock starts if that becomes the case. One competitor, Geeks by the Minute, charges $1.99/minute if you use a credit card or $2.99/minute if you call their 900-number. Of course, their FIRST minute is free. That works out to $120-180/hour for phone support.

Exceptions to Hours Charged

The best plans sometimes go wrong. Much computer systems work tends to be an art and not a science. There is no ONE solution or ONE way to do things and sometimes things just don't work out as intended. I charge for SHOULD HAVE TAKEN hours. That is, if I try it one way and that doesn't work and I have to do it another way then you only pay for the hours that I feel it should have taken.

Is your site the best place to do the work? Often system work involves tasks which are wait-time intensive; e.g. formatting new drives, installing major software packages, system restorations, deep virus scans and removal, etc. If I do this at your site you pay me to sit there and watch the progress bar. This is a waste of my time and your money unless you have something else that I can do; e.g. training, consultation, etc. If we identify up front that you have wait-time intensive work to do or do so shortly after my arrival, I can bring components back to my shop and do the work here. Your advantage is that you pay a flat $50/hour for actual work time, no wait time included.

I am competitive. While I am of the opinion that I am much more qualified than the competition to do your job, I will meet and beat their best offer. Not only am I a MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), I hold a BS from NCSU and an MBA from UNC. Two major commercial competitors are the Geek Squad (Best Buy) and CompUSA. You can see their offerings here: Geek Squad, CompUSA. I will beat their best offer by at least 15% but bear in mind that this is FIXED PRICE in most cases. FYI, I was recently at a tire store that did brake work and such. Their labor rate was $80/hour.

Educational Discount. I offer significant discounts to folks that are doing things for their kids, especially those attending Early College at Guilford College and Grimsley High School. I am a strong (very strong) advocate of getting kids computer literate. While some detractors try to claim that computers and the Internet are crutches for the weak I personally believe that personal computers and the Internet are major tools in the educational process.

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